Messages

A Command: Give to the One Who Begs from You

10.25.09

"Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."
Matthew 5:42

I confess, I have not always obeyed this command.

I have traveled to many large cities across the U.S., I've encountered many beggers and borrowers. Some I discerned as cons I have called out or waved off. Others I've given to because I felt the conviction of this text.

I've thought a lot about this command of Jesus over the years. I've discussed it with many. I think I know all the major reasons why not to give when someone asks. You don't want to encourage deception. You don't want to feed a chemical addiction. You don't want to contribute to someone's cycle of poverty. And there are many others.

But still this text unnerves and convicts me.

The reason is that Jesus doesn't give this command in the context of addressing how we can best facilitate transformation in someone else. He is telling us how we should respond to those who are making demands on me, either from explicitly evil motives or just plain out of their difficult situation. He is telling us how we ought to respond even when being taken advantage of.

Do not resist the evil person, he says. Let him slap you twice. (v. 39)
Give him more than he is suing you for. (v. 40)
Do more than he is forcing you to do. (v. 41)
Give to those who ask. (v. 42)
Love your enemy. (v. 44)

Jesus is telling us to actively show kindness and radical generosity toward those who hate me or who are seeking to take advantage of me.

Really, Jesus? Isn't that rewarding sinful, or at least unhealthy, behavior?

Of course, I can think of Biblical examples that illustrate when it seems right to resist or flee an evil person in situations of theft, deception, abuse, persecution, war, etc. So when the Word speaks, I must listen carefully, and I must weigh all of his words.

But from the words Jesus speaks here, it applies more often and more broadly than we want it to.

He does not let us off the hook easily. He tests our hearts with such radical love. And in our hearts we see our selfish, unloving impulses that do not want to part with my money, possessions, time, or convenience for needy or evil people.

What Jesus is calling us to is gospel love. It's the love that drove him to die for us with when we were still a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy of his (Romans 5:6-10). There is something about such over-the-top, radically generous love that is so different from the way the world loves that it reflects the Father's love for sinners. It's why Jesus calls us also to costly love. It is both an expression and picture of the gospel.

He is calling us to radical, gospel generosity. The kind that looks weird in the world. The kind that sifts our motives and tests our love. The kind that is impossible for the natural man. But let's take heart, that's the way it's supposed to be, for "with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27).

Tim Carlisle